You are fifteen weeks along now. With each day you may be getting more and more anxious to find out what your baby’s gender will be. You may be curious if she is going to look like you or look like dad. It won’t be too much longer before you can find out your baby’s gender on ultrasound, that is, if your doctor agrees to check for gender and your baby cooperates. You may have your own mother’s instinct about your baby’s gender, or your partner may have instincts of his own. You may have read some of the pregnancy wives’ tales. Even though they are by no means reliable, they are still a lot of fun to read about.
What Is Going on With Mom and Baby?
Baby is the size of an orange!
Baby’s crown to rump length is around 10-11 centimeters, about the size of a naval orange, and your baby weighs about 100 grams. Your baby may be sucking his thumb now, and your baby’s sex organs are distinguishable now. It might be possible to tell what your baby’s gender is if you have an ultrasound at this time. Your baby has very thin skin, so you can see her blood vessels through her skin at this stage.
You may still be able to wear some of your non-maternity clothes. It may be frustrating finding clothes that look right on you because you are too big for your regular clothes but too small for maternity. You may start to notice your baby moving this week, or it could be another three or four weeks.
This Week’s Pregnancy Checklist
- Consider buying a maternity support belt.
- Update your baby registry.
- Purchase or check out a library book for dad to be.
- Look into decorating choices like wallpaper or a mural for your nursery.
- Review your health insurance coverage and take care of any uncompleted paperwork.
- Take a new belly picture for your scrapbook or journal
Pregnancy Wives’ Tales
Even though we know that old wives’ tales about pregnancy really aren’t true, a lot of us ladies still enjoy reading them. It’s kind of fun trying to predict what gender your baby will be and what baby might look like. Here are a few of the wives’ tales out there to get you excited and having fun during your early pregnancy stages.
Baby’s heart rate - If baby’s heart rate is 140 beats per minute or below, you are having a boy, and if it is over 140 beats per minute, you are having a girl.
Carrying high or low - If you are carrying your baby high, you are having a girl, and if you are carrying your baby low, you are having a boy.
Watermelon or basketball - If your belly looks like a watermelon, you are having a girl, and if it looks like a basketball, you are having a boy.
Morning sickness - If you having really bad morning sickness, you are having a girl, and if you are not having morning sickness, you are having a boy.
Cravings - If you are craving meats and cheese, you are having a boy, and if you are craving sweets, you are having a girl.
Heartburn - If you are having a lot of heartburn, your baby will have a lot of hair on his head.
What Will Your Baby Look Like?
There is no way to know for sure what your baby will look like, but you can take some guesses based on which genetic features are dominant and which are recessive. What your baby will look like is determined by the genes she inherits from her mom and dad. Each person gets two copies of each gene, one from mom and one from dad. If a genetic trait is dominant, your baby only needs to receive one copy of this gene for the trait to be expressed. If it is recessive, he will need to have to copies of this recessive gene in order for the trait to be expressed.
Here are a few examples of dominant and recessive traits that your baby could have.
Hair - Dark hair is the dominant trait. Blonde and red hair are recessive. Curly hair is dominant, while straight hair is recessive.
Eye color - Brown eyes are dominant, while blue, green, or hazel eyes are recessive.
Dimples and freckles - Dimples and freckles are dominant traits.
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